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Capital Markets

Trusted capital markets experts, adding value to your investments

Leading capital markets law specialists

Looking to raise capital? Whether you plan IPOs, secondary offerings and convertible and straight debt offerings, we can help you. Issuers or investors? You can rely on our legal advice in relation to all aspects of debt, equity and hybrid securities, and you benefit from our team’s excellent relationships with local regulators, stock exchanges and government officials; essential assets when adapting to a new regulatory world.

With capital markets constantly evolving and changing, it is more important than ever to know your rights and how to protect your investments. If worse comes to the worse, you need experts who have experience in capital markets litigation and who understand the economic drivers behind your dispute.

“Outstanding capital markets team known for its prowess in issuer-side advice. Particularly acclaimed for its proficiency in large-scale bond transactions. Offers the benefits of a strong CEE-wide network, frequently assisting with cross-border matters in the region. Predominantly active for banks, with clients also stemming from the manufacturing and insurance sectors.”

– Chambers Global

“We particularly appreciate their profound understanding of the commercial side of our business combined with their strong legal knowledge. Wolf Theiss generally provides a high level of solution-oriented service with quick response times. We also like the fact that Wolf Theiss works with a strong team of both partners and younger lawyers which means someone is always available.”

– The Legal 500

What makes our team the best capital markets lawyers for you?

Our regional, integrated firm offers distinct advantages spanning the full spectrum of legal services.

  • An established international law firm with 60+ years of experience in Austria and CEE/SEE
  • A fully integrated team of jurisdiction-specific qualified lawyers across our offices in 13 countries.
  • Collaboration and innovation across multidisciplinary teams and offices
  • Excellent client satisfaction – responsive, client-oriented, and consistent
  • Experience with complex and cross-border matters covering the full spectrum of legal services
  • Knowledge and expertise to add value to deals across industries

Leading the legal field

Our lawyers are involved in key transactions and matters across the region, bringing their industry expertise and specialised business knowledge to add value to our clients’ work.

Advised Romanian banking group on successful first issue of green bonds

Provided legal support in pioneering European digital loan transaction

Acted as local counsel in issuance of 10-year €650 million international bond

Advised banking group on IPO preparation & listing on Vienna Stock Exchange

Our securities and capital markets lawyers advise on debt, equity, and hybrid capital securities

Trusted advisor for Austrian and SEE banking group

Our team advised Addiko Bank AG and its local banking subsidiaries in relation to the preparation and implementation of Addiko Bank AG’s initial public offering and listing at the Vienna Stock Exchange. Our work included legal advice on regulatory requirements, issuer compliance, corporate aspects, internal reorganisation and related work. WT is a long-standing, trusted advisor of the Addiko Group in Austria and SEE.

This transaction was particularly complex since we needed to prepare the entire Addiko Group for the listing of its parent company in a strict and very dense time schedule. Our advice included issuer compliance, regulatory, corporate and other legal matters in six different jurisdictions. In parallel, our teams contributed to the listing prospectus and gave ad hoc advice on various different legal issues.

In the sounding phase of the IPO, we assisted Addiko Group with an issuer due diligence in all jurisdictions involved and had to closely cooperate with the other advisers and investment banks involved in this deal.

Legal certainty for digital loan transaction platform

In 2018, Erste Group Bank AG carried out the first fully digital, paperless issue of a borrower’s loan note (Schuldscheindarlehen) via a blockchain platform in Europe. Our team provided legal advice to Erste Group on this pioneering transaction. Since then, a number of such transactions have been carried out on “Dealfabrix”, Erste Group’s blockchain-based debt issuance platform. Syndicated loans have been added as a new product class on Dealfabrix and, very recently, bonds as well.

In late May 2021, Erste Group used the platform to issue a 10 million euro senior prefered “Sustainability Bond” with a tenor of three years, which was fully subscribed by Hypo Vorarlberg. All of the steps involved in the issuance, as well as the documentation for the bond were processed on Dealfabrix within just six seconds.

We provided legal support to Erste Group’s transaction documentation team from the beginning. The key element was to ensure legal certainty and carefully map the blockchain-based processes that were used for the first time in Europe for such a transaction.

Local counsel for international bond issuance

Lawyers from our office in Tirana acted as local counsel to the joint lead managers in the latest issuance by the Republic of Albania of a 10-year €650 million international bond.

Our office in Tirana acted as local counsel to the joint lead managers, Intesa Sanpaolo Bank, JP Morgan, Société Générale and OTP Bank in the latest successful issuance by the Republic of Albania of the new 10-year € 650 million international bond. The team in Tirana advised and assisted the banks in all aspects of the transaction related to Albanian law. The transaction marks the Republic of Albania’s successful return to international capital markets for the fifth time, following prior issuances in 2010, 2015, 2018, and 2020; in all of these issuances, Wolf Theiss Tirana acted as local counsel to the joint lead managers.

Success in first Romanian green bonds

Our team advised Raiffeisen Bank S.A. (Romania) as Issuer on its RON 400,575,000 3.086% Senior Preferred Eligible Green Notes 2021 – 2026 issue. Raiffeisen Bank S.A. successfully placed an issue of senior preferred green notes, in order to finance eligible projects to ensure the transition to a sustainable economy. This depicts the first ever issue of green bonds in the Romanian banking sector.

What others say about us

“A client enthuses: ‘The partners as well as the associates are highly competent at a technical level, are always available and flexible, and they support us even when we don’t make it easy for them with ad hoc questions.’”

– Chambers Europe

“We particularly appreciate their profound understanding of the commercial side of our business combined with their strong legal knowledge. Wolf Theiss generally provides a high level of solution-oriented service with quick response times. We also like the fact that Wolf Theiss works with a strong team of both partners and younger lawyers which means someone is always available.”

– The Legal 500

“Very knowledgeable in capital markets, on top of things and give market-leader, authoritative advice.”

– IFLR1000

“Wolf Theiss is the leading law firm in debt capital markets law. They are the only law firm in Austria which has two partners with a respective team dedicated predominantly to debt capital markets law. This set-up makes them unique compared to all other competitors in the market. They also have very high expertise in regulatory matters regarding capital market laws. They are the number one firm in Vienna in DCM.”

– The Legal 500

Areas of specialisation

Equity Capital Markets

Equity capital markets are exciting and offer opportunities, but they are also challenging; especially for the uninitiated. It is vital that you have a team who understands how to manage risk.

 

You can rely on our support through each stage of the transaction; our aim is always to help you to achieve a successful offering and/or listing on local and international stock exchanges. Our team regularly advises on equity fundraisings, private placements, stock exchange transactions and IPOs.

Debt and Hybrid Capital Markets

With debt capital markets growing in the CEE/SEE region, you will benefit from our capital market lawyers’ expertise in all aspects of issuing debt and hybrid securities. This includes stand-alone corporate bonds and sovereign issues, exchangeables, MTNs and debt issuance programmes, convertibles, hybrid and Tier 1, securities and structured products.

Funds

As an investment fund or a fund manager, you can rely on our assistance with fund establishment and marketing, management and structuring requirements, mergers of funds and fund management companies, requirements for reporting and filing and passporting of UCITS-compliant funds. As a core focus of our team, our funds lawyers can support you with the AIFMD requirements and its implementation in the EU Member States of our region.

Derivatives

You may rely on our team to ensure your derivatives transactions are properly structured, negotiated and documented, as well as for assistance dealing with regulations around your exchange-traded derivatives, including swaps, futures, options, repurchase and participation agreements. Our experts work on implementing EMIR, which means we can use our knowledge of capital markets derivatives and the law, including the ins and outs of this complex EU legislation to your benefit.

Take-overs and Delistings

Successfully structuring and closing take-overs is not easy without an expert on your side. You can depend on our experience in all types of take-overs, including hostile and friendly take-overs, squeeze-outs, and delistings. Whether buyer, seller or target, we act for you and represent your boards and investors, even under time pressure and sensitive circumstances.

Capital Market Regulatory

We support you on all regulatory issues related to the establishment, licensing and operation of branches, subsidiaries and services on a local and cross-border basis, including capital and liquidity regulations such as transparency requirements, compliance and white collar criminal investigations. Our regulatory expertise includes MiFID/MiFID II, MAD/MAD II/MAR, AIFM/UCITS, derivative structuring and trading (EMIR, SFT) and Solvency II.

“We are extremely happy with Wolf Theiss’ capital markets practice. Apart from their excellent expertise and long-lasting experience, I would like to highlight their resources as one of their core strengths. The size of their team allows them to be highly responsive at any time and deal with matters of any size swiftly and efficiently. At the same time, they are very dedicated to client relationships so that you always feel valued and in safe hands. Their communication is persistently clear and to the point, no unnecessarily long statements, and no missing information. You receive tailor-made advice which always takes your individual and specific needs into account. Another key capability of the team is their sector-specific knowledge. They are top-notch for banking capital markets matters, and have expertise which is second to none in Austria.”

– The Legal 500

Get in touch

Whether you need an international team with extensive experience in capital markets matters or are looking for a financing lawyer, Wolf Theiss can support your business goals through our profound legal practice.